ancient custom of riding the black lad, at Ashton-under-Lyne, on Easter Monday, which consists of carrying an effigy on horseback through the town, shooting at it, and finally burning it, is alleged to have taken its origin from this individual, who, according to tradition, was shot as he was riding down the principal street. According to another story, the custom commemorates the valiant actions of Thomas Ashton at the battle of Neville's Cross. AV. 191. See Hazlitt's edit. of Brand's Antiquities, 1870; ii. 333, and Mr. Axon's pamphlet, The Black Knight of Ashton. As early as 5 Henry VI. (1426-77) Sir John Assheton was lord of this manor, at a yearly rent of a penny. BC. 361-62. Th' Abbey Hey bulldogs drest i' rags, Dar' no com' out to th' Gorton lads. Gorton is in Lancashire, three and a half miles on the eastsouth-east of Manchester. BC. 365. Halifax is made of wax, And Heptonstall of stone; In Halifax there's many a pretty girl, In Heptonstall there's none.-CF. xii. 499. He who would see old Hoghton right, Must view it by the pale moonlight. Higson's MS. Collection, No. 102. Hoghton is near Blackburn ; those who are familiar with the locality, will have no difficulty in comprehending the allusion. BC. 205. Perhaps the lines are satirical. The distich seems to be a slightly modified form of Scott's opening lines on Melrose. Hutton an' Huyton, Ditton and Hoo, Are three of the merriest towns That ever a man rode through. Hoo, so spelt for the sake of the rhythm, is Hool in Cheshire. BC. 219. Lancashire places are meant throughout the rhyme, I believe. (Ingleborough), Pendle Hill, and (Penygent), Are the highest hills between Scotland and Trent. : Fallacy for Pendle Hill being 1831 feet above the level of the sea, is nearly 800 feet lower than Grey Friar, in the north of Lancashire, and considerably lower than Whernside in Yorkshire. However, the following version may be true Pendle Hill, Penygent, and little Ingleborough, Are three such hills as you'll not find by seeking England thorough.-BA. 186. See Pendle, in this county. Ingleborough and Penygent are near Settle in Yorkshire. (The) Kent and (the) Keer, Have parted many a good man and his meer (mare). Towards the end of Morecambe Bay the waters shoal very much, and an immense extent of sand and mud is left high and dry at low water. The registers of the parish of Cartmel up to this year (1880) show that no fewer than 145 drowned persons [here] are buried. These are independent of similar burials in the churchyards of adjacent parishes on both sides of the bay. The bay receives Lune, Keer, Kent, Winster, Leven. BV. 166. Mr. Skeat, I see, has inserted this in his edition of Pegge's Kenticisms, and in the note he has explained Keer to mean (probably) care. BC. 260-61. Lancashire law, No stakes, no draw. Quoted by losers when no stakes are lodged. BA. 188. He that would take a Lancashire man at any time or tide, Must bait his hook with a good egg-pie, or an apple with a red side. This is given with a slight variation in Wit and Drollery, 1661, p. 250-" He that will fish for, etc.," and it is also in the edition of the same work printed in 1682. It occurs in what is called The Lancashire Song," apparently a mere string of whimsical scraps. BC. 201. Leyland is a village of Lancashire, not far from Chorley. There is, or was, sixty years since, a tradition current here, to the effect that the church, on the night following the day in which the building was completed, was removed some distance by supernatural agency, and the astonished inhabitants on entering the sacred edifice the following morning, found the following metrical command written on a marble tablet on the wall Here thou shalt be, And thou shalt stand, And thou shalt be called The church of Leyland. Leyland Church stands on an eminence at the east side of the village. The ancient tower is still standing, but the body of the church is modern. AV. 192. 284. Manchester bred, Long in the arms, and short in the head. Compare "Cheshire bred," and "Derbyshire born," etc. BC. MERSEY. Yoke, Irwell, Medlock, and Fame, When they meet with the Mersey do lose their name. These are the names of small streams, which flow into the larger one, and so lose their individuality. BC. 501. The western border of High Furness, where the chapelry of Seathwaite extends along the Lancashire side of the river Duddon, in the upper part of its course, is wild of aspect, and fragmentary of foundation. The soil and climate unfavourable to fine varieties of grain. The high grounds are all sheep pastures, and the few small crofts of stone-encumbered ground, divided by drywalls, and attached to each tenement, are devoted to the growth of summer grass and winter fodder for the healthy cattle, and of oats and potatoes for the equally hardy families. This limited range of agricultural produce is remarked upon in two jingling verses, wherein nearly all the farms in Seathwaite are mentioned Newfield and Nettleslack, You may gedder o' t' wheat they grow, Northen or Northern. See under DIDSBURY, co. Chester. In Oldham brewis wet and warm, And Rochdale puddings there's no harm.-BC. 241. Pendle, Ingleborough, and Penigent, Are the three highest hills between Scotland and Trent. Pendle, Penigent, and Ingleborough, Are the three highest hills all England thorough. These three hills are in sight of each other. Pendle on the edge of Lancashire, Penigent and Ingleborough near Settle in Yorkshire, and not far from Westmoreland. ĂU. See "Ingleborough," etc., included, for convenience, in this county. When Pendle wears its wooly cap, The farmers all may take a nap.-BA. 189. Because rain is threatened. Once a wood, then a sea, Now a moss, and e'er will be. This refers to Pilling Moss, in Lancashire. See Manners and Customs of Westmoreland, p. 564. There is another saying, "God's grace and Pilling Moss are boundless." Chat Moss, in the same county, near Warrington, used to be regarded as equally so, and as unlikely ever to be reclaimed; but some of it is now enclosed and cultivated. BC. 319. Prescot, Huyton, and merry Childow, Three poor churches all in a row, Prescot for mugs, Huyton for ploydes, Childow for ringing and singing besides. == "Ploydes" ploys-merry meetings; some think ploughs. "Childow" Childwall. BA. 183. Preston for panmugs, Huyton for pride, Childwall for toiling, and playing beside.-BC. 332. Proud Preston, poor people, High church (tower), low steeple.-BA. 184: I. 138. It is written upon a wall in Rome, Ribchester was as rich as any town in Christendom. L. 791: Fuller. "It seems to have been meant as a reproof to any mean person boasting of their ancestors, and to be interpreted thus Supposing this poor village of Ribchester to have been once as rich as any town in Christendom, what is it the better for it now? Or else, on some one boasting of former importance he cannot prove, to quote the circumstance of the inscription on the Roman wall, by way of a ridiculous parallel." AU. Some monumental wall, whereon the names of the principal places were enscribed then subject to the Roman empire. And probably this Ribchester was anciently some eminent colony; as by pieces of coins and columns there daily digged out doth appear. However, at this day, it is not so much as a market town; but whether decayed by age, or destroyed by accident, is uncertain. It is called Ribchester because situated on the river Ribble. Ray: BC. 253. "Ribchester is the Roman station Rerigonium, Mr. Hardwick having discovered the site of Coccium at Walton le dale." From a paper by A. C. Gibson, Esq., F.S.A., on Popular Rhymes and Proverbs." BA. 218. If Rivington 66 pike (peak) do wear a hood, Be sure the day will ne'er be good. A mist about the top of that hill is a sign of foul weather. AU.: Ray: BA. 207. Riving pike is the summit of a lofty elevation near Rivington, a town in Lancashire, in the parish of Bolton; the Pike is 1545 feet above the level of the sea. BC. 229. SEATHWAITE. See "Newfield and Nettleslack." WIGAN. Maudlin, maudlin, we began, And built t' church steeple t' wrang side on. The steeple, says Mr. Higson, is built on the north side, at the junction of nave and chancel. BC. 289. |